Selfless Acts
by iloveromance
Summary: When Amy makes a random comment about her past at an employee meeting, Glen assumes the worst and terminates her employment. When a shocked Jonah tries to help her a misunderstanding occurs; one that threatens their friendship.
1. Chapter 1

"I'll be in the back, so I need that announcement pronto. You got that?"

"Got it." Amy sighed at Dina's drill Sargent persona. "A simple request would have been enough." She mumbled under her breath. But when Dina froze and turned around, Amy felt a chill run up her spine.

"What was that?" Dina demanded.

"Um, nothing. I was just... I-."

"Announcement, Amy. Now!" Dina barked.

Amy marched over to Garret's booth at the Customer Service desk, unable to take it any longer. She picked up the microphone and pushed the button.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" He shouted. "No one uses this mic but me!"

"Well, I'm using it now, got it?" Amy snapped. She looked around, horrified when she realized that she'd just broadcast her frustration to everyone in the store. Garret, however, was amused by the situation, judging by the way he was laughing at her.

"Way to go. Now why don't you let the expert handle it?"

"No way! I think I can handle a simple microphone!" She pushed the button and sighed. "Secret meeting of all Cloud Nine employees in the break room in ten minutes!"

"Well it ain't so secret now is it?" Garret chuckled.

She gasped once again, horrified when she realized what she'd done. But it was too late now.

"Don't blame me, blame Dina!" She said. "She's the one who wanted this stupid meeting in the first place."

"Okay, well I guess we'll all head to the break room for this _not-so-secret meeting_." Garret said. He shot Amy a look before wheeling himself to the double doors.

With a sigh, she turned to see the trail of employees who were making their way to the break room. And after a moment she decided to follow them. When she arrived, she was surprised to find that the break room was nearly filled to capacity. This was not good at all.

"What's this?"

"You called a secret meeting remember?" Mateo reminded her. "Well, here we are!"

Amy rolled her eyes at Mateo, who stood in the middle of the room, his arms outstretched to demonstrate that they were in fact, all in the break room.

"Thank you Mateo." She replied with as much sarcasm as she could get away with. And it was a lot. She'd had a lot of practice since she'd been hired all those years ago at Cloud Nine. "But what I meant was why is the whole store here? Who's watching the registers?"

Adam grinned. "Well, probably no one."

Amy's eyes widened. "What?"

Jonah shrugged. "You said _all_ Cloud Nine employees and not just _some_."

"Yeah, but I didn't mean-."

Glen gasped and began ushering several of the employees out of the room. "Hurry up!" He shouted. "The store could be in complete chaos by now!"

"Glen, relax!" Jonah said. "The store practically runs itself!"

They all stopped and stared at him as though he was crazy… and everyone knew that he was, but Jonah being Jonah, simply shrugged.

"So…" Amy began. "I think it's about time that we got this meeting started. But actually-."

Dina moved to the front of the break room, placing her hands authoritatively on her hips. "All right, listen up! I have a confession to make!"

The employees began to murmur among themselves until Dina shushed them back to order. "The truth is… Amy didn't call this _secret meeting_. I did!" To emphasize her point, she used imaginary quotation marks in the air to designate secret meeting. And as Amy expected, the employees began to complain.

"But I had good reason!" She yelled, trying to be heard above the chatter.

"It damn well better be a good reason." Garret said. "Do you realize what you're keeping us from?"

Her eyes narrowed and Amy noticed a look that passed between Dina and Garrett. It was a look that Amy didn't quite understand. But Garrett was smiling and Dina's face, surprisingly, was flushed.

"Yeah, we'll discuss that later." Dina finally said. "But right now I have a very serious matter to discuss."

Amy groaned. "Oh God, Dina is this about the fruit theft again? Come on guys! Will the person who stole the stuff just confess already? No one's perfect. I mean I used to shoplift from stores all the time!"

Glen's eyes widened. "You did?"

"Well yeah. Everyone did!"

He came closer. "You were a shoplifter?"

She sighed in exasperation. "Yes, Glen. I was a shoplifter!"

"Shoplifting… " he repeated. "That's _stealing_!"

"Yes Glen, I'm aware that shoplifting is stealing. And it was a long time ago. I was seventeen! And now I'm-."

He folded his arms in front of his chest and his eyes narrowed. "Old enough to know better."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes Glen, I'm old enough to know better. Which is why I don't do it anymore!"

She hoped that her boss would simply go away but instead he came closer.

"What did you steal?"

"Come on Glen, it's no big deal. And anyway it was a long time ago."

"I don't know…"

"Glen, Amy's right." Jonah said. "It's not a big deal. Now don't you think that we should all get back to the store?"

"Absolutely! Everyone, get back to work, all right?"

"What about the meeting?" Garrett asked. "Aren't we, you know… supposed to _meet_?"

"Meeting adjourned." Glen announced.

They all nodded in agreement and began filtering out of the break room in a sea of blue vests.

"Well, that was…"

"Totally unproductive." Amy finished as they walked back into the store. "I still have no idea what the point of the meeting was. And look at this place!" She gasped at the sight of the Cough and Cold Aisle of which the contents were scattered everywhere. "God it's going to take forever to clean all of this up and restock it, not to mention facing the shelves! I have better things to do with my day!"

Jonah appeared by her side. "I'll help you."

She looked at him in amazement. "You will? But aren't you supposed to be in Cleaning Products with Cheyenne?"

"She'll be fine. Please… let me help you."

Without giving her a chance to respond, he walked to the center of the aisle and knelt beside her where she was busy picking up tiny boxes of stomach remedies that were scattered all over the floor and put them neatly in a pile at her feet. When his arm brushed against hers, she shivered and smiled gratefully at him, but looked away the moment they made eye contact. She was doing her best to appear annoyed, although she was well aware that it wasn't working.

Seconds later they were working together, sorting and stacking the hundreds of colorful boxes containing remedies for almost any kind of illness. And although it was hardly work that she enjoyed, she found that she couldn't stop smiling.


	2. Chapter 2

She was so busy stacking the tiny boxes onto the shelves that she hardly realized that the job was almost finished. But when she glanced at the dingy white tiled floor, it was amazingly free of boxes.

"Well, that's the last of it." Jonah announced, stepping back to admire his hard work.

Amy had to admit that he'd done an amazing job. Every row was neatly arranged in alphabetical order, from Alka-Seltzer to Zantac and everything in between. The shelf was now a rainbow of colors. Glen would definitely be impressed. She smiled at Jonah, prepared to say something witty, but when they locked eyes she suddenly felt incredibly shy. This was definitely not like her at all. Taking a deep breath, she gathered the courage to say what was on her mind. But all she could manage was;

"H-hey, thanks for helping me."

He smiled. "No problem."

"Yeah, it would have taken me hours to clean all of that up."

"We make a good team, don't we?"

His words surprised her and were perhaps the reason for the tiny little flip of her heart. "Yeah, we do. I-." When her cell phone rang, she nearly jumped at the sound it made and reached into her pocket to answer it.

"Yeah?"

"Amy, this is Glen. I'm, the manager of the store."

She tried not to laugh. "Yes, Glen. I know who you are."

"I need to see you in my office right away! It's a very important matter! It's urgent!"

"Okay Glen, I'll be right there."

"Good, because it's-."

"A very important matter. Urgent. I know." She hung up the phone and sighed.

"What was that all about?" Jonah wanted to know.

"Glen wants to see me in his office right away. Probably wants to tell me about the present he bought his wife."

"Okay, well I'll just finish up here and-."

Suddenly a group of kids came tearing down the aisle, nearly knocking Amy over. The kids' arms were outstretched and as their fingers ran over the neat row of boxes, the merchandise teetered like dominoes, sending them to the floor.

"Damn it!" Amy yelled. "Don't parents pay attention to their kids anymore?"

The kids just laughed and began pushing the boxes around the floor with their feet, causing Amy to cringe as they stepped on a few.

"Stop it, you brats!" She yelled, doing her best to shoo them away. "Stop that right now!"

The kids scattered, but one pudgy faced boy in a faded striped shirt simply stood and stared at her. "I'm not a brat!"

"Yes, you are! Look what you've done! Do you realize how hard Jonah and I worked on this aisle?"

The kid shrugged. "So?"

"So if you don't get out of here, you're going to be sorry!"

"What are you going to do, hit me?"

"Oh, I'll do more than hit you!" Amy snapped. She lunged at the kid, causing him to shriek.

"I'm telling my dad!"

"Fine, tell him! See if I care! Just stay away from us, all right?" Amy yelled as he tore through the store. She was about to start helping Jonah when her phone rang again. Reluctantly she reached into her pocket to answer it.

"What?"

"Do you or do you not understand the meaning of the word urgent?"

"Yes, of course I do, Glen. It's just that-."

She could hear him clacking on his keyboard. "According to the Webster's Dictionary site, Urgent means-."

"Yes, I'm well aware of what the word _urgent_ means, Glen! I'll be right there, okay? Some kids just made a mess out of the aisle that Jonah and I were just working on! If you'll give me a few minutes, I need to help him." She hung up the phone without giving Glen a chance to respond.

"Don't worry about it." Jonah said. "I'll take care of it."

She glanced around at the river of tiny boxes that once again littered the floor. It would take Jonah another hour to clean them up. "No, let me help you, okay? It was my fault. I should have been paying more attention."

"Look, you really don't want Glen mad at you. I mean, I've never seen him mad; not that I know of anyway, but-."

"No, it's fine. I'll just stay here and help you." Her phone rang again but this time she ignored it. However, Jonah was watching her.

"Just go, Amy. I'll be fine."

She hesitated, feeling helpless. "Well, all right, but-."

He shooed her away with his hand, causing her to turn around. But she paused at the end of the aisle. "Look, I'm going to tell him what a great job you did with this aisle, all right?"

"Sure, whatever."

Her heart pounded in her chest and she practically floated through the double doors before turning down the hallway that led to Glen's office. This was going to be the best meeting ever.


	3. Chapter 3

She was bubbling with excitement as she stood in front of Glenn's door and knocked.

"Come in!"

She opened the door and stepped inside. "Glenn, before we talk about whatever it is that you want to talk about. I have to say that Jonah-." She froze when she realized that she and Glenn weren't the only ones in the room. Jeff and Dina were there as well.

"Oh, I didn't realize that this was a group meeting. I came as fast as I could because you said it was urgent, but-."

"Close the door." Dina ordered.

Amy's eyebrows rose. "Okay…" She pushed the door closed and turned to Dina, producing a fake smile. "What's going on?"

"Have a seat."

Her eyes locked with Dina's and she lowered herself into the chair that sat directly across from Glenn's desk. Her eyes searched the three faces before her, hoping for any sign of what this impromptu meeting was all about.

"So…what's going on?" She asked again.

Dina cleared her throat. "It's come to our attention that you recently admitted to shoplifting."

"Recently as in-."

"As in just about an hour ago in the meeting we had in the break room."

"Oh, you mean the secret meeting that was supposed to be a secret meeting but somehow managed to include every employee in the entire store?"

"That's the one."

"Okay, so what was it that I confessed to stealing?"

"If you don't remember, I shouldn't have to tell you." Dina said.

Amy thought for a moment and then laughed. "Oh, you mean that! Right. Yeah, I used to do that all that time!"

Glenn leaned forward. "So what did you steal?"

"Black eyeliner. I was going through a phase."

The three mangers exchanged glances and Jeff began writing in his notebook. "I see…" he said in that slow manner that Amy absolutely hated.

"Wait. What's going on here?"

"Stealing is a Federal offense." Dina pointed out.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that."

"And it says here on page…" She picked up the small flat white book with the Cloud Nine logo on it and began flipping through the pages "…thirty nine that any employee caught shoplifting will be immediately terminated!"

"Right and that's how it should be. So if I see anybody shoplifting I'll definitely let you know! Now I really should get back to work. Jonah-." She rose from her chair but froze when she noticed that Jeff was holding up his hand.

"Not so fast! Have a seat."

Slowly she lowered herself back into the chair. "What's wrong?"

Dina took Jeff's notebook from his hands and began to read. "It says here that during the meeting that was held in the breakroom-."

"The one where EVERY employee came." Amy pointed out.

"Right. Anyway, it says that you willingly confessed to shoplifting from the store."

Unable to help herself, Amy laughed out loud. "I guess I did, didn't I? But I was just comparing what I had done to the fruit theft!"

Dina shrugged. "Well, I'm afraid a confession is a confession."

"Hey, wait a minute. That never happened at this store!" Amy protested. "I was seventeen, Dina! Seventeen!"

"It doesn't matter. Rules are rules." Dina's eyes moved to Jeff who was once again writing in his notebook.

Amy's mouth fell open. "Are you kidding me? You're writing me up? Oh my God, this is… insane!"

Dina simply shrugged. "Sorry, you don't follow the rules, you suffer the consequences."

"Yeah, but why would you write me up for something that happened before this store even existed?"

Once again, the three mangers glanced at one another.

"I don't think you understand what's going on here." Jeff said.

"No, I don't!" Amy shrieked. "So would someone mind telling me?"

"Um, maybe I should talk to Amy alone." Glenn said. "I am her supervisor."

Dina shook her head. "No way. The handbook says-."

"It's fine, Dina." Jeff said. He stood and began to guide her out of the office. "Just get back to work. Glenn can handle it." He then looked at Amy and frowned. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? Sorry for what?" But her question was ignored as she watched Dina and Jeff walk out of the office, closing the door behind them.

"Glenn, what is going on?"

Glenn sighed, looking dejected. "I really hate to do this, Amy. I really do."

"Do what?"

"I wish that Dina could have done it. She's much better at this than I am. You know that. Or Jeff! Yeah, he's a much better person to do things like this."

"Dina? Jeff? Glenn what in the hell are you talking about? Writing me up? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"But I'm your supervisor and as your supervisor, it's my job to do it."

"Fine, write me up, but can you be quick about it? I really need to get back to the store."

"I'm afraid I have to do more than just write you up, Amy."

"What are you saying?"

"It's hard to explain."

"Well, try, all right? I have no idea what in the hell is going on here."

"Oh, all right. I'll tell you. But believe me, this isn't what I want to be doing right now."

She threw up her hands in exasperation. "Glenn! Just say it!"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go."

She stared at him, certain that she heard him wrong. "What?"

"Amy… you're fired."


	4. Chapter 4

For a moment she sat perfectly still, unable to believe what was happening. And finally she forced herself to speak. "I-Oh my God, you're firing me?"

Glenn nodded sadly. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

"What? I'm fired? I'm really fired?"

"Please don't make me say it again."

"But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Well, technically you did."

"Glenn, come on! You and I both know that I have never stolen anything in this store! There's not even anything here worth stealing! You said so yourself! Can't I talk to the Union Rep or somebody?"

"We don't have a union. Not anymore anyway. The dues were too high, remember? You lead the fight to have them removed. And you won!"

"Glenn-."

"Look, I don't like this any better than you do, but like Dina says, rules are rules."

"Dina is a freaking idiot!" Amy yelled, realizing that calling the Assistant Manager of the store an idiot was certainly grounds for termination. She could barely meet Glenn's gaze.

"Look, when I said that about shoplifting the black eyeliner, I was just-God, I was venting about the damn fruit theft! Dina just won't let it go! But now that I think about it, stealing fruit is a lot more serious than stealing black eyeliner!"

"It's still stealing!" Glenn said. "And stealing is wrong! It says so in the Bible!"

Amy's eyebrows rose. "No it doesn't."

"Yes it does. Right here." He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a familiar white book.

"That's the employee handbook." Amy said.

"Well, it's the Bible to me."

"Look, can't you make an exception? Just this once? You know I'm a good employee, Glenn! I know that you know it!"

He hung his head low. "I'm sorry, Amy. I can't."

"Of course you can. I've seen you make exceptions for people all the time. I mean, Bo-."

"Well, he's Cheyenne's husband."

"Yeah, and he was sleeping on the shelves while he was supposed to be working! And have you forgotten about how he flipped us all off right before he quit?"

"No, I haven't. That wasn't nice of him at all."

"Nice? You want me to be nice?" She yelled. "I'M ALWAYS NICE!"

Glenn shook his head. "You're not being very nice now."

Her chest began to tighten. "So what about me?"

"I'm sorry, but Jeff's my boss and what he says goes."

"So I have to go too."

"I'm afraid so."

She bit her trembling lip, willing the tears that filled her eyes to remain at bay. "I'm divorced, Glenn. "

"I know. That's gotta be tough."

"And I have a daughter."

"Yes, Emma."

"Right. Emma's my daughter, Glenn. How am I supposed to take care of her?"

"I'm sure you'll have no problem finding another job. I'll write you a good recommendation and I won't even mention the shoplifting."

"Because I didn't shoplift from this store!"

"I'm sorry."

"So this is it?"

"I'm afraid so." He repeated.

"Okay, well then where do I sign?"

He handed her a pen and the familiar pink pieces of paper. "You know the routine."

"I sure do." She said, aware of the way her voice was quivering. Her hand trembled as she put the pen to the paper and began to sign her name. She signed her married name, almost forgetting that she was divorced but she didn't even care. What would they do to her if she signed the wrong name to a termination paper? Fire her a second time?

"Good luck to you."

Her legs felt wobbly as she stood and looked at Glenn uneasily. "Well, I guess this is it."

"You can clean out your locker and then put your vest-."

"Yeah, I know where it goes."

They stood in silence and then she took a deep, shuddering breath. "Well I'll see you, Glenn."

"Goodbye, Amy."


	5. Chapter 5

She walked into the hallway and closed the door behind her feeling as though she was having an out of body experience. Woodenly, she made her way to the break room, relived to find it empty. Her eyes moved to the rack that hung on the wall. It was what they called the "Cloud Nine Former's Vests"; Vests that belonged to former employees and were waiting for new employees to adopt them. There were only a few vests hanging on it and soon hers would be one of them. She swallowed hard, unable to believe that it was really happening.

She peeled out of her vest, her eyes glistening with tears. But she couldn't cry. She couldn't risk anyone seeing her like this. Carefully she unfastened the light blue wooden heart shaped pin and removed it from the vest. She pinned it to the bottom of her sweater, hoping that her daughter wouldn't notice. It was going to be hard enough slipping out of the store without anyone seeing her. But even worse would be trying to explain to her daughter why she was wearing the pin on her sweater instead of her vest.

Suddenly the realization that she no longer had a job hit her full force. Never again would she walk into the break room and pick out her name badge for the day. Rebecca… That was the name she had chosen, having no idea that it would be her last day on the job. She couldn't imagine never listening to Mateo go on and on about his crush on Jeff or Cheyenne telling her about how Harmonica did the "cutest thing ever" but she forgot to take a picture. She swallowed hard, painfully aware of how hard it had become to hold in her tears.

Hurriedly she cleared out her locker and stuffed all of her belongings into a Cloud Nine Shopping Bag. As casually as possible she walked out of the break room and through the double doors that led to the store.

When she reached the Customer Service desk, she cringed.

"Hey Ames." Garret waved and flashed her a smile. "How's it going?"

"Horrible." She muttered. That was the understatement of the century.

But Garrett only laughed. "That bad, huh? Well, if you're stuck in here I guess that's the only thing it could be."

She sighed. She'd give anything to be able to stay in the store longer. Thoughts of her future (Or what was left of it) began to creep into her mind, but she pushed them away. She'd have plenty of time to think about that later, when she was stuck at home watching reruns of bad 70's TV shows and eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's Double Chocolate Fudge.

She laughed half-heartedly at Garrett's comment. If he only knew the irony of it.

He shrugged. "Well, that's life I guess."

"It sure is. Well, I've gotta go. See you around, Garrett."

He looked at his watch. "What, now? It's barely one o'clock. I thought you were working till seven."

"What are you, my keeper now?" She snapped.

He held up his hands in protest. "Whoa, take it easy, all right? What's going on?"

"Nothing, all right? I'm sorry, I'm just…Look, I really have to go, okay?"

"Ok sure. But why so early? I thought you said you were working a double."

"I did say that, but…" She took a deep breath, praying that her emotions would stay intact. "Um… Emma needs me. I have to go, really. Goodbye."

"But-."

She could feel his eyes on her as she moved quickly through the store making a beeline for the exit. When she reached the parking lot, she kept her eyes straight ahead, grateful that she'd been able to find a close parking space in the Employee Parking Section. At least there was minimal chance that she'd be spotted; or so she hoped.

"Amy! Wait up! Where are you going?"

She froze and squeezed her eyes shut. Going unnoticed, it seemed, wasn't in the cards. For when she turned around, she saw the last person on earth she wanted to see;

Jonah.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, what's going on?"

Amy sighed. "Nothing, all right? Look, I've really got to go."

"What? Now? It's not even one o'clock!"

"I KNOW THAT!" she yelled, startling them both with her outburst. "Why does everyone inssit on telling me what time it is?"

"Hey, I was just-."

"Well, _don't_ , all right?" She turned around and began walking to her car. And of course, she could sense him following her.

"Amy, wait! Where are you going?"

"What do you care?"

"What? Wait! Of course I care! I-."

She whirled around wishing he would disappear into thin air. But since that wasn't remotely possible, she wished that she could scream. "Look, just leave me alone, Jonah!" She kept right on walking.

"I'm trying but you're not making it very easy."

"Making what easy, Jonah? Oh, I forgot your life is perfect and you don't have to worry about kids or food or a paycheck or anything like that! And I'm happy for you!"

He put his hand on her shoulder, and the light touch prevented her from moving any further. When she turned around, she noticed his expression was serious.

"What happened?" His voice was softer now and she absolutely hated it.

"Just forget it, all right?"

"I'm trying to, but-."

"Oh right, you're not making it very easy."

"Um, yeah, I-."

Tears spilled from her eyes but she could have cared less.

"Hey, what-."

"Glen fired me, Jonah! Are you happy now?"

Jonah's eyes widened. "What? He fired you? Why?"

"He fired me for shoplifting!"

"Shoplifting? But you didn't-."

"I know I didn't and he knows that I didn't, but he fired me for telling everyone in the secret meeting that I stole black eye liner when I was seventeen!"

"But-but that's ridiculous!"

If Amy didn't know any better, she would have sworn that Jonah was more upset about her being fired than she was.

"Apparently Glenn didn't think it was so ridiculous."

"Well, didn't you try to reason with him?"

"Of course I did, but what could I say? He wouldn't listen to me! He just told me to clean out my locker and leave!"

"Amy, I-."

"Look, just forget it, all right? I've got to go!"

"Amy? For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Amy's gaze gaze fell to her feet. "Yeah, I'm sorry too."

"What are you going to do now?"

Amy shrugged. "I guess I'll go home and try to figure out how I'm going to raise my daughter on my measly savings, which is barely enough to get us through the next week."

Before Jonah could reapply, Amy climbed into her car and drove away.


	7. Chapter 7

At home in her living room the television blared and Amy cringed at the sight of yet another Cloud Nine commercial. It was as though the television station knew that she'd been fired and was taunting her. This was Dena's doing. It had to be. No one else would be so cruel.

"Are we going to be okay, Mom?"

She put down the magazine she was holding in her hand and stared at her daughter. "What?"

"Are we going to be okay?"

The question shook her to the core and she honestly didn't know how to answer it. She always assumed that Emma was too young to worry about such things but there was no telling what the kids and even some of the teachers were saying at school. People could be so mean.

"Mom?"

"Oh…. I…" She wanted to lie and say that everything would be all right, but she knew that she couldn't lie. Not like this.

"Well?"

She went to her daughter and picked her up, placing her on her lap, even though Emma was much too big to be held. At that moment it just felt right. "I don't know, Emma. I really don't."

"Mom?"

Amy hugged Emma tightly. "Look, I love you very much and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that we're all right. Now, why don't you get ready for bed and I'll come up in a little while to tuck you in."

"Okay, Mom."

When Emma was gone, Amy looked around her apartment. She had no idea what she was going to do as far as supporting her daughter. It wasn't fair to Emma or to herself. This whole thing… losing her job, just wasn't fair. She wished she could take back every single moment of that stupid meeting. If she'd only kept her mouth shut.

But it was too late now. All she could do was wish and hope that she and Emma would be all right. But it wasn't an easy thing to wish for.


	8. Chapter 8

(Earlier)

Jonah stood in the parking lot of Cloud Nine for a few minutes, watching Amy's car drive away. This was unbelievable. What was Glenn thinking, firing their best employee? And then Jonah remembered. Glenn never thought.  
Forgetting all about whatever it was he'd come outside for, and frankly not caring at all, He stormed back into the store. The moment he entered, customers came at him from all directions, shooting questions at him left and right.

"Where's the toilet paper?"

"Do you sell shock absorbers?"

"Where are the Pop-Tarts?"

"Do you have My Little Pony books?"

Jonah wanted to scream. Oh my God, who cared about shock absorbers, toilet paper, and Pop Tarts? He had more important things to take care of. He ignored them all and against their protests, made a beeline for the back room. He was just about there when Cheyenne stepped in front of him.

"Hey, Jonah, can you-."

"Not now, Cheyenne. I'm busy!" He pushed past her and made his way through the swinging double doors with the clear windows.

"You don't look busy." Cheyenne called to him. But of course Jonah ignored her. He was on a mission.

By the time he reached Glenn's office, he was out of breath, huffing and puffing as though he'd run a marathon. He knew he should stop and catch his breath but he was too angry. Instead he banged on Glenn's door rapidly until it was answered. Glenn glared at him, holding the phone in his hand.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to give Amy her job back! Right now!" Jonah demanded.

Glenn's expression changed. "I-I'll call you back, Steve." He hung up the phone and ushered Jonah inside, closing the door behind him. "All right, do you want to tell me why you're barging into my office without permission? I was on the phone!"

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to be on a break but I'm in here, demanding that you hire Amy back!"

Glen shook his head. "I can't do it."

"Of course you can!"

"No, I can't."

"Why?"

"Because she stole and stealing is wrong, not to mention against company policy!"

"The hell with company policy! Amy didn't steal anything!"

"Now Jonah you know as well as I do that Amy told us all point blank in that meeting that she stole black eyeliner-."

"When she was seventeen!" Jonah finished. "She's like way older than that now! She's got a daughter!"

"I know."

"How is she supposed to support Emma, huh?"

"Well, I-."

"That's right! She doesn't know either, because she doesn't have a job! Thanks to you!"

"Actually Jonah she did it to herself."

Jonah threw up his hands in disbelief. "Oh my God, you're really going to ruin her life because of one stupid confession in a secret meeting that wasn't very secret?"

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

"Hire her back!"

"You know I can't do that."

"Yes you can!"

"Haven't we been over this already?"

"Yes, and I'm sick of it! Now just get on the phone, call her up and tell her you made a mistake and that she can come back to work tomorrow!"

"Jonah-."

"It's really easy. You just pick up the phone, dial the number and say ' _Amy, This is Glenn from Cloud Nine. I made a mistake and_ -."

"But she's the one who made the mistake, not me!"

"Hire her back!"

"I can't!"

"Yes you can!"

"But she stole!"

"WHEN SHE WAS SEVENTEEN! And she didn't steal from you!"

"I'm sorry, Jonah, I can't."

Jonah swallowed hard. "Well, then, there's only one thing left to do." He began removing his blue Cloud Nine vest.

"What are you doing?"

Jonah tossed the vest on Glenn's desk. "I quit!"


	9. Chapter 9

The credits were rolling on yet other episodes of Little House on the Prairie and Amy looked at her watch. It was only ten o'clock. She still had hours before she had to go and pick up Emma from school. She'd only been out of work for a little over a week, but it felt like an eternity. She was sure that come Friday, when she would usually be picking up her paycheck, it would feel like much longer.

The doorbell rang and she muted the television. She had no idea who could be visiting her at such a weird hour, but truthfully she was glad for the disruption because it gave her something to do, something other than watching Little House on The Prairie. There was only so many times a girl could wonder what would happen to Laura Ingalls and how Pa was going to get her out of a scary situation with Nellie Olson.

When she opened the door she was surprised to see three older women standing in front of her, wearing smiles and red dress. They were holding boxes in their hands and Amy rolled her eyes. How dare they come and ask for money when she barely had any of her own? She was about to say this very thing but decided against it. Instead she plastered on a smile. "Hello."

"Hello, are you Amy Dubanowski?"

Amy cringed at the sound of her married name. "Um, actually it's Sosa."

"Oh, well, all right."

"But yes, I am Amy. Who are you?"

"We're from the Western Center, dear."

"The what?"

"The Western Center. We provide for those who don't have all that they need."

Oh God, another group of people trying to take her hard earned money by going door to door. "Look, it's nice of you to come over and all but I really can't-."

"Oh no, dear! We're not asking for donations. We're here to see you!" One of the women said.

"Me? But why?"

"To bring you these."

"A-all these boxes are for me?"

"Yes, so why don't we put them inside?"

"But I-." 'The women ignored her protests and filed into the apartment.

"Where would you like these, dear?"

"I-in the kitchen I guess." Amy replied.

"And that would be-."

"Over there." Amy pointed. "But why-."

"Oh, we don't ask. We just deliver the supplies to those in need. It's not anyone's business why."

"But I don't need any-."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. Enjoy, dear. And if you need more just let us know. We're here to help."

Amy barely had time to utter another word when the women filed out of the kitchen and out her front door even faster than they had come in. When they were gone she shut the door and walked back into the kitchen. It was there that she noticed a brochure with a familiar looking woman on it, wearing a red dress. It was the woman who had been in her kitchen just moments before. Curious, Amy picked up the brochure and began to read;

 _Helping hand for those in need… Those struggling to make ends meet, those who are unempl-._ She froze and a chill ran through her body. She opened the boxes, amazed to find clothes, food and even personal hygiene supplies.

"What the-."

When she reached the bottom of the box, she pulled out a sheet of paper. There were no prices listed, just the items that had been included in the box. Underneath were the words;

 _Generously donated by Cloud Nine Superstore_

She shook her head in disbelief. Surely Glenn hadn't felt guilty and sent over a box full of crap to make her feel guilty as well. Although it certainly sounded like something he would do. But there was no way. And Dina wouldn't do something like this, not in a million years. That left only one person…

Her blood boiled just thinking about it.

"Jonah!"


	10. Chapter 10

She was so angry that she barely kissed Emma goodbye as she dropped her off at a friend's house. And she wasted no time in driving up to the store. She was going to give Jonah a piece of her mind if it was the last thing she did. But the moment she walked through the automatic doors that slid open on her arrival, she was stopped by none other than Dina.

"Halt! I can't let you in!"

"What? Of course you can! I'm a paying customer!"

Dina's eyebrows rose. "Paying? Oh so you're going to pay for stuff now instead of stealing it?"

"I didn't steal anything! Oh my God, I just-." She stopped talking and pushed past Dina, making her way into the store. "Where's Jonah?"

"How should I know?"

"Well, maybe because he works here!"

They exchanged glances, but said nothing. And finally Mateo smiled. "He's not here."

"What? Of course he's here! He has to be! He always works on Tuesdays!"

"It's Wednesday." Garret said with a smirk.

"Okay fine, so it's Wednesday! He works Wednesdays too. I think."

"You think?"

"Well, yeah, I kind of lost track of time after-."

"After being canned?"

"Dina!"

"He's not here."

"All right, well would you mind telling me-."

"You could do the obvious and try his house."

Amy sighed. "Yeah, I guess I could. Thanks anyway." She turned and walked out of the store, hoping that she'd never have to set foot in it again.

All the way to her car she contemplated what she was going to say to Jonah when she saw him. Boy was he in for a surprise. The nerve of him! When she reached his apartment she got out of the car and walked to his door, pounding on it as though there was no tomorrow.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" his muffled voice came through the door. But when he opened it, she was completely taken aback. For a moment she thought she might faint.

She'd seen him almost every day. So why now, of all days, wearing a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt emblazoned with the logo for the former St Louis Rams, did he have to look so hot? Quickly she pushed the thought away. No, he wasn't hot. She wouldn't think it, she couldn't think it. But there it was.

"Amy."

"Jonah." She snapped, pushing her way into his apartment.

"Hello to you too, Jonah." He mocked. "May I come in? Of course you may, Amy. Be my guest."

"Cut the crap, Jonah."

"Can I get you anything?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact you can."

"All right. All I have is diet, is that okay?"

"No! It's not okay!"

"Well, it's all I have, so-."

"I don't want a damn soda! I want an explanation!"

"For what?"

She scoffed. "Oh please, you know exactly what explanation I want! I'm not stupid and for the record, Emma and I are not destitute!"

"Destitute? I never said-."

"You didn't have to say it! The damn women from the Western Center practically threw it in my face!"

"Amy-."

"Look, we're not coworkers anymore, so just stay out of my life, all right? I swear I won't go into Cloud Nine ever again and you can have all the fun you want, talking about me-the shoplifter-to everyone in there and I won't be there to hear it!"

"Amy, listen-."

"No! I'm through listening to you, Jonah! I trusted you during that damn tornado! I-." She bit back a sob. "I'm not destitute! I'm not!"

"I know you're not." He said quietly. "But I was worried about you so that's why I went to Glenn to demand that he give you your job back."

She looked up in surprise. "You did?"

"Yeah."

Slowly her anger began to melt away. "And what happened?"

"Well, he refused."

She gave a shuddering sigh. "That figures."

"That's why I quit."

"Y-You what?"

"I quit."

A million thoughts raced through her mind. "Jonah…"

"Look, I-."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, I just-."

"You quit your job… for me?"

"Well, I-."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why did you have all that stuff delivered to my house?"

"Well…"

"It was you, wasn't it? It wasn't from the store."

"Are you kidding? Glen would never- Yeah, it was me."

"But why?"

"I was worried about you and I thought-."

Suddenly it all made sense. And the realization was all it took to make her cry. Embarrassed she turned away from him. But she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, I'm really sorry, I-."

The touch of his hand was so welcome, so soothing that she turned and threw her arms around him, crying into his t-shirt.

"Hey, don't cry. Look, Amy. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

But she continued to cry, aware of the way he was rubbing her back. There was no tornado, no major disaster, just a sweet guy consoling a complete, unemployed idiot.

"I'm sorry, Amy."

She slowly pulled out of his arms. "I know. And you don't need to be sorry. I'm the one who's sorry. It's my fault."

"No, it's not your fault. Look, I should have told you about it before I sent those people over there. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad. I just… I was worried about you and I wanted to make sure that you had something at least. You know, until you found another job."

She smiled and brushed away her tears and then hugged him tighter than she'd ever hugged him before. "Thank you, Jonah."

"You're welcome."

After a long moment she let go. "Hey, I was wondering if you want to go out tomorrow?"

"You mean to look for jobs?"

"I was thinking more like dinner and a movie. I can get a sitter for Amy."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I'd love to."

"Great, I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Okay, it's a date. I'll see you tomorrow."

She left with a smile on her face. Getting fired was the best thing that had ever happened to her-so far.

THE END


End file.
